Remembering James Brown

James Brown’s signature funk is so ubiquitous that the scent will likely linger on the winds of the collective consciousness forever. Enabled by mass media, he became the root rhythm of remixer turntablists and samplers. One of the great cultural capitalists, he’s produced a grossly outsized portion of the world’s sum total of data.

His infectuous grooves have evolved, like “Cold Sweat” here in ’69 and later in ’73, mutating and spreading like a virus. In this clip of a 1978 documentary, JB inimitably sums up his own creative influence: “You know, most of the dances today, they were taken from James Brown. One way or another, every step you see is James Brown.” After the break, nine more from the hardest working man showbiz may ever know.